How behaviour can shape the culture

Andrew Cherrie is the pastor of Home Church. In a recent sermon entitled “7 lessons from 7 years at Home Church” he gave the following quote:

The culture is shaped by the worst behaviour the leader is willing to accept

He was particularly referencing the church however it is much broader than this.

This observation has certainly shown to be the case where I have worked. Without wanting to incriminate myself, there have been some questionable decisions made by the management in the past which have meant it has been very difficult to hold others accountable for their later actions when a precedence has been set.

The behaviour of some of the people involved has also been questionable. The way they have conducted themselves with respect to both their staff and customers have set a precedence for the culture of the company. It may start with a small infraction but this can quickly lead to larger and larger infractions justified by the previous ones.

In the London office where I currently work our leadership team have worked very hard to build the culture. We have tried to build a culture and environment where we would want to work. This has meant that we treat each other as adults, we promote a level of transparency and openness and we always act with integrity at the centre of what we do. We are very conscious of how we act and what we say and the impact it has on others. If any of us see it happening we immediately hold each other accountable and will call it out.

This same impact can also happen in the home. The parents need to set the culture of the family by their actions. How they act and interact with each other, the children and friends sets a template for how their children will act.

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